1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for storing and displaying coins, medals and other valuable small objects, and more particularly to a device for storing and displaying transparent cassettes, each housing a coin or medal.
2. Status of Prior Art
Numismatics involves the study and collection of coins and medals as works of art as well as sources of historical information. Coins and medals preserve old forms of writing, portraits of eminent historical figures, and reproductions of lost works of art. Nusmismatists or coin collectors value coins and medals in accordance with their condition and rarity.
It is now a widespread practice for experts in the field of numismatics to certify coins or medals in respect to their character and condition. In a field in which counterfeiting is not uncommon, such certification assures a collector of the genuineness of his acquisition. Thus if a rare French coin made of gold is in a mint state (i.e., the coin if unmarred as if fresh from the mint), the expert so certifies by using the symbol MS. But if the coin is worn or eroded, this state is indicated.
Certification data affords dealers and collectors with necessary grading information regarding the age, character and condition of the coin certified and is an index to its value.
In recent years, certified coins and medals are often packaged in what are generally referred to as coin slabs. A coin slab is a sealed cassette molded of transparent, synthetic plastic material. The cassette is formed of complementary sections which define a circular recess to accommodate the certified coin and a rectangular recess in which a small certification card is seated. Printed on the front of this card is the certification data, the identity of the certifier being printed on the rear.
Thus when looking at the front face of the cassette one sees the head of the coin and the certifying data, and when looking at the reverse face one then sees the tail of the coin and the name of the certifier.
The cassette or coin slab not only provides a convenient package for the coin, but because it is sealed to render it air tight, the coin is not subject to tarnishing from airborne contaminants. And while with a coin slab one may examine the coin housed therein without the examiner's finger making contact with the coin. Because of reactive chemical agents in the pores of human skin, finger contact may result in coin corrosion.
The problem which is the concern of the present invention is in regard to storing and displaying certified coin cassettes or slabs. This is no problem when there is only a handful of slabs. But for collectors and coin dealers who have in their possession a considerable number of coin slabs, the usual practice of storing these slabs in containers and boxes does present a problem. Every time a need arises to examine a particular coin slab, one then has to remove all of the slabs from the boxes to search for the slab of interest.
Coin slabs are now so molded as to facilitate their stacking in open cases or on shelves. To this end, the slabs must be identical in form, each slab having a peripheral ridge on one side that can be socketed within a complementary ridge on the opposite side of the adjoining slab. But when slabs are stacked, their coins and certification cards are blocked from view. It is therefore often the practice to provide slabs with an edge strip having some certification data printed therein. These edge strips are viewable when the slabs are stacked.
While edge strips are helpful in selecting a particular coin slab from a stack, the coins housed in the stacked slabs cannot be seen. As a practical matter what a coin dealer or collector who has in his possession a considerable number of coin slabs has need of is some means of storing those coin slabs which would at the same time serve to display the coins and their certification cards. In this way, when the dealer or collector wishes to see what coin slabs he has in storage and to withdraw therefrom a particular slab, he can do so without having to run a slab-by-slab search.
To complicate the storage and display problem faced by a dealer or collector having a large number of certified coin slabs is the fact that no standardized slab size has been adopted by certifiers. Coin slabs now commercially available differ somewhat in their sizes. Thus one commercially-available coin slab is 31/4 inches in length, 21/2 inches in width and 3/8 inches in thickness, while others are fractionally greater or smaller in length, width or thickness.
Known forms of storage and display devices for coins and medals are only adapted to accommodate holders therefor having identical sizes. Thus the Grant patent 4,425,997 discloses a display device for coin holders in which a coin is placed between a pair of transparent sheets sandwiched between a pair of identical plates having openings therein which expose the head and tail of the coin. The display device for these coin holders takes the form of an apertured board, each aperture socketing a respective coin holder. The display device is suitable for coin holders of identical size but is inappropriate for certified coin slabs that differ somewhat in their sizes. A similar storage and display device is disclosed in Grant patent 4,385,688.
In the coin display arrangement shown in the Deese patent 4,043,444, each coin is housed in a holder having interlocking elements at it edge which are captured by an adjacent holder, thereby making it possible to form a display array of interlocked coin holders. But here again, the coin holders must have identical sizes.
Also of background prior art interest in regard to coffers and other holders for storing and displaying numismatical coins and medals are the patents to Vuille, 4,005,778; to Bains, 3,064,805; to Stroop, 2,571,073; to Friess, 4,402,399; to Hudgeons, Sr. et al., 3,193,090; and to Hollander, 2,521,792.